Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Philippines and from Woodstock.
But I was there.
I was there in 1975.
I was there at the first Ubu show in Cleveland.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1964 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Lille and Glasgow.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1976 at the first Feelies practice in a loft in Haledon.
I was working on the theremin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Lou Reed started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing The Pretty Things to the grunge kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Urselle. All the underground hits.
All Lizzy Mercier Descloux tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Electric Light Orchestra record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a mellotron and a rhodes and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a The Smiths record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought a harpsichord.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Unwound,
Delon & Dalcan,
Hashim,
The United States of America,
The Divine Comedy,
Gang Starr,
The Raincoats,
Ronnie Foster,
Sun Ra,
Adolescents,
Terry Callier,
The Young Rascals,
D'Angelo,
The Moleskins,
Camouflage,
Donald Byrd,
Rufus Thomas,
Television Personalities,
The Neon Judgement,
Black Flag,
The Barracudas,
Laurel Aitken,
The Shadows of Knight,
Model 500,
Nick Fraelich,
Joensuu 1685,
Sparks,
Throbbing Gristle,
Leonard Cohen,
Crispian St. Peters,
Amon Düül II,
Bobby Womack,
Yellowson,
Reuben Wilson,
The Smoke,
Chrome,
The Cowsills,
Negative Approach,
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy,
Eve St. Jones,
Quando Quango,
Glambeats Corp.,
The Grass Roots,
Oppenheimer Analysis,
Shoche,
The Mummies,
Rosa Yemen,
Ituana,
Blancmange,
Con Funk Shun,
Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines,
Yaz,
The Associates,
Main Source,
The Slackers,
The Selecter,
Albert Ayler,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Andrew Hill,
Bad Manners,
Byron Stingily,
Derrick May, Derrick May, Derrick May, Derrick May.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.